


Stop Falling On(For) Me

by artsypolarbear



Series: Clexa Oneshots [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, One Shot, Romance, falling from trees
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:44:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6033505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artsypolarbear/pseuds/artsypolarbear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke has a thing for climbing trees. Too bad she also seems to have a thing for falling out of them.<br/>And somehow, Lexa always seems to be in the way when she's falling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop Falling On(For) Me

**Author's Note:**

> this just kinda popped up in my head and i figured why not write it  
> so here you are my lovelies  
> enjoy ~

Clarke stood at the bottom of a tall oak tree and peered straight up. She could see the sky peeking at her from amidst the thick branches and dark green leaves, which rustled gently in the early autumn wind. There were already a few yellow and golden leaves amidst the green, but on that specific day it was as warm as summer.

With a tiny grunt, Clarke jumped upwards and just barely caught hold of the branch above herself. Her pink Disney princess backpack and matching lunchbox lay on the ground at the base of the tree as she swung her legs up around the branch, to which she now clung like a baby koala. She scraped her knee against the rough bark as she maneuvered herself on top of the branch, but she did not care. Her right knee already had a Spiderman band-aid, and there was a Cinderella one on her elbow.

Clarke Griffin was the clumsiest girl in her second grade class, after all. But she didn’t mind little scrapes and bruises, despite the fact that her mother repeatedly told her to be careful. There was too much of the world to see and not enough time, and being careful wasted her precious time.

As she made her way up through the branches towards the very top of the tree, Clarke felt excitement brew in her chest. The sky was coming closer and closer, and she could now see the clouds that resided in the bright blue of the skies.

They had learned in science class about clouds. Clarke refused to believe that clouds were just water; how could they, when they were white and not blue and hung in the sky and looked like cotton candy?

So, naturally, being the adventurer she was, she had decided to investigate herself. But when she came to the highest point she could go, she found she was no closer to the clouds than what she’d been on the ground. With an annoyed huff, she began her descent, not noticing that a small brown-haired girl had come up on the field just a few yards further and was kicking a football.

The brown-haired girl noticed the flash of blonde hair amidst the leaves, and stared at the tree in wonder. When she saw that a girl her own age was climbing down from the tree, she found herself walking towards the tree, curiosity now ruling her actions.

“What are you doing?”

Clarke was so startled by the sudden voice that her grip of the branch loosened, and the next second she had lost her hold altogether and was falling to the ground. She fell about seven feet, landing on her feet and from there to her back, letting out a little cry when pain flashed through her leg where it’d hit a rock.

“Ow,” she groaned as she lay on the ground. Sunlight glared into her eyes, but then the light was blocked by a head, and Clarke blinked to see who it was.

“Are you okay?”

The girl kneeled beside Clarke and offered her a hand, and Clarke sat up, leaves and dirt in her pretty blonde hair. The girl before her had brown hair, neatly divided into two braids that were messy and just barely held together. She had the greenest eyes Clarke had ever seen, and within them was held a look of mixed amusement and concern. There was a smudge of dirt on her cheek, and her overall expression was simultaneously somehow mischievous and extremely kind.

“Yeah,” Clarke nodded. “You surprised me.”

“Sorry.”

“What’s your name? I haven’t seen you in school.”

“I’m Lexa. We just moved,” the girl smiled, gesturing towards the house at the edge of the field with her hand, “Right there.”

“I’m Clarke. I live in the blue house over there.”

Lexa nodded. She’d seen Clarke earlier that day when she’d been going to school. Her house was just three houses down from her own.

“You’re hurt,” she then observed, her brows furrowing as she stared at the bloody cut on Clarke's leg.

“Yeah.”

Lexa stood then and offered Clarke her hand. “Come on, mom will get you a band-aid.”

“Do you have cool ones?”

“Superman ones.”

“Those are cool.”

 

* * *

 

Middle schoolers can be cruel. Clarke had to learn that the hard way – of course she did, she wasn’t exactly the popular girl nor was she particularly smart. She was just Clarke, and that made her a prime target for bullies.

That day they had teased Clarke about joining the chess club. Clarke usually had a thick skin, but there was only so much one could take and today had not been a day when she’d felt particularly strong. And so, after enduring the torturous bus ride and the snide comments and snarky jabs, she had darted past her house and to the park nearby. Her bag she left at the base of the tree as she climbed up, now with more ease and grace than she had in her childhood, and settled herself up high in the crook of a particularly large branch. She had her sketchbook with her, and spent the afternoon there, drawing and trying to drown out the anger and hurt that resided within her heart.

Four hours later, when she finally realized she was supposed to be home for dinner within ten minutes, she began her descent. Only then did she realize that her legs were entirely numb, but she gritted her teeth and tried to get down anyway.

Of course that was a bad decision. She had gotten almost to the ground when her foot slipped, and she fell down onto the branch stomach first before falling down to the ground. Air was knocked out of her lungs, and for a while, she laid on the cool grass, groaning as she fought for breath.

“Are you okay?”

Clarke furrowed her brows when she recognized Lexa’s voice. They had briefly been friends in elementary school, but the girls had grown apart when Lexa had joined the soccer team in middle school and Clarke had joined the band and chess club. Jocks and band nerds didn’t mix.

Especially not in middle school.

Clarke coughed and sat up, now thoroughly embarrassed. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure? That was a pretty heavy fall.”

Only then did Clarke realize that there was a hand extended to her, and she hesitated only slightly before taking it and letting Lexa help her up.

“I’m fine.”

“You need a Superman band-aid?” Lexa asked, smiling brightly.

Clarke wondered for a while what she meant before remembering the last time she’d fallen out of that very same tree. “Shut up.”

“Ok, well, I need to go eat dinner. See ya around?

Clarke nodded slowly, not sure how to respond to Lexa’s kindness. Around school she was cold and barely acknowledged her existence, and yet here she was, smiling and talking to her like they were friends.

“Uh, yeah.” She picked up her bag and hurried off home, passing off the flutter in her chest as caused by the fall. Because it couldn’t be anything else.

Could it?

 

* * *

 

It was raining, it was cold, and it was pitch dark.

Which was no surprise, considering it was early November. But Clarke did not care; she could have cared less for the fact that she was thoroughly drenched, or that she was shivering from the cold – the only thing she knew was the pain in her heart and the sobs that seemed to be shattering her from within.

She was still wearing the black dress and cardigan, but her hair had come loose from the tight bun it had been in; she had pulled it loose, she had been angry, and her mother had only looked at her with the same sorrow in her eyes.

_Dad’s gone._

Clarke cried out and leaned against the trunk of the tree, a new wave of tears and sobs washing over her. There were no leaves on the tree’s bare branches, and she had no cover from the light rain that was falling from the sky as though the heavens themselves were mourning the loss of her father.

Clarke was as angry as she was sad, and the storm of emotions within her mind was too much to handle. She gripped the trunk of the tree with all her might as she cried. Being up high, hidden from the world, she felt safer than inside in her room. She didn’t want to cry in front of her mother, who was trying so hard herself to cope with the loss.

_This was definitely not the way I wanted my last summer before college to go._

The light drizzling rain passed over into a proper shower, and soon Clarke heard the unmistakeable grumble of thunder in the distance. There was a flash of light not a mile away, but in her state she failed to make the connection between the lightning and her current location and the danger the combination of the two posed.

That fact was not lost on Lexa. She stood at the base of the tree, holding a blue umbrella, and peering up at Clarke’s shivering form. She’d noticed her from her bedroom window, and after Clarke had been up in the rain for twenty minutes, Lexa had decided to try and see if she could coax her to come down. Whatever it was that she was upset about was not worth getting pneumonia and dying for.

“Clarke?”

Clarke glanced down and saw Lexa, and instantly felt incredibly embarrassed. The brunette was staring up at her with her eyes clear and determined, and Clarke wanted nothing more than for her to go away. She didn’t want Lexa seeing her like this.

“Go away, Lexa.”

“Not until you come down.”

“Why do you care?”

“You're in the middle of a thunderstorm, Clarke. You could die.”

“So what?”

“Whatever it is that you’re upset about, it’s not worth dying for.”

Clarke bit her lip and wiped tears from her eyes. “You don’t know anything.”

“Come on, either you come down or I’m coming up,” Lexa groaned. “Please?”

Lexa heard an exasperated groan from the tree, and grinned victoriously. She watched carefully as Clarke made her way down the tree, noticing how her feet slipped on the wet branches and how her arms seemed to be far better now at catching her falling before she fell.

Clarke came to the lowest branch, but there she was faced with a problem; her dress did not allow her to climb down as she would have liked.

“You stuck?”

Clarke blushed and shook her head. “No.”

“Then come down.”

“Ok, I can’t.”

Lexa smiled gently and set her umbrella down before walking to stand under Clarke, arms stretched up. “Jump.”

“What?”

“Jump.”

“I can’t jump on you, I’ll probably break you.”

“Jump.”

Clarke chewed her lip. “You sure?”

Lexa sighed. “Yes. Now jump.”

Clarke slid off of the branch and Lexa caught her waist, and almost managed to catch her gracefully.

Almost.

Her foot slipped in the mud and they fell to the ground, Lexa to her back and Clarke on top of Lexa.

“Oh, shit,” Clarke gasped as she climbed off of Lexa, who sat up with a groan. Her entire back was covered in mud, as was her hair, but she couldn’t have cared less.

“Are you okay?”

Clarke gaped at Lexa. Her face was spattered with mud, which covered her arms and legs and probably her entire back, not to mention the pouring rain had thoroughly drenched her clothes and hair. She had been the one to take the worst of the fall, and yet she was asking Clarke if she was okay as though she was unaware of her own condition.

“I’m fine, you?”

Lexa shrugged. “Just a clay mask. Good for the skin.”

Clarke smiled then, for the first time in days. “Thanks for, you know. Helping me down. And I’m sorry for falling on you.”

“My fault for not realizing the ground was slippery.”

They stood up, and Lexa retrieved her umbrella quickly. “You ok to go home?”

Clarke shrugged. “I guess.”

Lexa held the umbrella over the both of them. "I'll walk you."

"It's literally right there, you don't need to."

"It's pouring rain."

"We're both drenched." 

Lexa rolled her eyes and gently grabbed Clarke's arm, pulling her along as they walked to the blue house just three houses down from Lexa's. Once they came to the doorstep, Clarke paused just slightly to look at her. She was about to say thank you when Lexa's green eyes met hers, and all else melted away.

“You sure you’re okay?”

Clarke saw only the green of her eyes: for the first time in her life, she realized just how beautiful they were. They were green like the leaves of her favourite tree, simultaneously light and dark, and they held within them a world emotions which Clarke failed to fully comprehend.

_She’s concerned._

“Yeah, I’ve just had a rough week," she smiled halfheartedly. "Thanks for walking me home."

 

* * *

 

Summer had finally come. Clarke could practically taste the boozy lemonades and late night barbeques on the tip of her tongue. She was happy, even though the fact was that she’d spend far too much time cooped up at home with none of her friends from college around. She’d be bored, sure. But she’d also get free food, and as a broke college student, that prospect sounded heavenly.

She’d come home the night before, and had made her way up to her favourite tree first thing in the morning. The leaves were a bright, youthful green, and the early June morning sun kissed at her pale skin and warmed her right to the soul. She had a book with her – some romance novel she’d grabbed – and she had the full intent of enjoying a day to herself.

Clarke wasn’t so sure when Lexa had gotten there, only that she glanced up from her book some time around midday to notice a familiar head of brown hair sitting at the base of the tree. It was clear that Lexa didn’t know she was up in the tree; the leaves covered it so that Clarke could only catch glimpses of Lexa, and Lexa surely had no reason to assume Clarke would be up in the tree.

Clarke dared not go down, even when her ass began going numb, because she did not want to disturb Lexa. She was reading something, so concentrated that she didn’t seem to notice anything else.

But there was only so much that Clarke could take. Finally her entire lower body had gone numb, and she began climbing down, as carefully as she could.

_This time I won’t fall._

But it was clear that fate was not going to let her have that. No, instead the branch beneath her foot broke off just a few feet above Lexa, and the next thing Clarke knew she was falling onto the brunette below. Lexa let out a surprised cry when Clarke fell into her lap, thoroughly startled by the sudden intrusion of her personal space.

“Holy shit!”

Clarke rolled off of Lexa and onto the ground, groaning. “Fucking shit.”

Lexa laughed when she realized it was Clarke and a rippling, bubbly laugh fell from her lips. Clarke frowned at her. “Don’t laugh, I’m embarrassed enough as it is.”

But the brunette couldn’t contain herself. “I’m sorry, you just…this seems to be a pattern with you,” she giggled.

Clarke looked at the brunette intently. She was pretty, Clarke had known that for years.

Clarke also had the biggest crush on her. Had been for years.

Lexa was pretty and nice and funny, and she was stuck here for a month.

She might as well try.

“How many times do I have to fall into your arms before you ask me out?”

The laughter died in Lexa’s throat, and her green eyes widened in surprise. Clarke was still on the ground, no longer in pain, but watching her carefully as she waited for an answer.

“You…what?”

“You heard me.”

“You want me to ask you out?”

“Maybe.”

"As in on a date?"

"Yeah?"

Lexa cleared her throat, now blushing vigorously. “You want to get coffee sometime?”

Clarke smiled. “Sure. And I’ll try to stop falling on you.”

_I might fall **for** you, though._

**Author's Note:**

> what'd you guys think?


End file.
